21 Touchpad Tricks to Handle your Windows or Mac Laptop to Perfection

Do you know that with Touchpad you can use your Laptop like a pro? Many of us do not know the gestures and tricks of our touchpad and they go for mouse, either Bluetooth or wired. In real, the touchpad is a very comfortable alternative, but many users do not get used to it, especially if they are accustomed to desktop computers with keyboard and mouse. If you want to get the most out of your Windows or Mac laptop, watch out these 21 tricks to become a ninja by manipulating the touchpad.

Each operating system has their own gestures, which runs in a similar way, but not necessarily identical. In addition, each touchpad has a different size and sensitivity. It is an element that is not usually given with much attention when buying the laptop. However, it will mark the user experience for good or force you to use an external mouse.

21 Touchpad Tricks to Handle your Windows or Mac Laptop

Here, I will show you the touchpad tricks for Windows laptop and the Mac laptop separately. Check out the tricks list below.

Touchpad gestures for Windows 10

Let’s see a list of the main gestures you can perform with Windows 10:

Click with a finger: execute the normal mouse click. Perhaps it is the best known by most users.

Pulsation with two fingers: runs the right mouse click, very useful and unknown by most.

Pressing with three fingers: Cortana opens. Something very useful to quickly access your files and programs.

Double click with a finger and drag: select text within the application in which we are.

Swipe with two fingers up or down: another of the best-known moves you up and down, the same effect as the mouse wheel.

Swipe three fingers up: open the task view and sliding three fingers down, navigate between open ones to select the one we want.

Slide three fingers down: Displays the desktop and hides the windows. If we then do the opposite action, the windows reappear.

Swipe three fingers to the right or left: navigate between open windows

Pinch with two fingers: zoom in or out. A well-known gesture on tablets and mobiles and not so much on the touchpad of laptops.

Touchpad technology matters

Many of the gestures explained, especially those with three and four fingers will surely not work on older equipment. It is necessary to have Precision Touchpad technology, which was launched at the end of 2013 next to Windows 8.1. The older notebooks, which upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7, may not be able to use them.

In addition, in many cases and depending on the model, the touchpad can be accompanied by one or two buttons. This was more common in older models since as you have seen, most actions are now done directly from the touchpad through the gestures. It is preferred to increase the surface of the said element even at the expense of removing the buttons.

Other manufacturers, such as the Lenovo case, bet on complementing with its famous TrackPoint, the red dot in the middle of the keyboard that until the arrival of the touchpad with multitouch technology was the most efficient to work fast on the laptop. If you also use keyboard shortcuts, productivity goes off.

There are also a lot of keyboards with a built-in touchpad, a very comfortable option for use in computers connected to the TV, for example, so you can control them comfortably from the sofa.

Mouse Gestures for Mac

In the case of Mac laptops, since the arrival of the MacBook Pro Retina 13 inches have available Force Touch technology. Thanks to it they are able to distinguish the pressure differences that we apply in each touch to carry out different actions.

Some of the main gestures that take advantage of this feature that you have at your disposal are the following:

Pressure on a text: A popup appears that shows search results for that text. Very useful for accessing dictionaries, etc.

Pressure on an address: it will show a preview of it on maps.

Pressure on an event or appointment: it will automatically add it to your calendar.

Press on the trackpad over a link: it will show a preview of the page. The preview also appears if you press and hold the icon for a file.

Pressure on the name of a file: allows you to edit it to change it, the equivalent of F2 in Windows.

Two touches without being clicked: also used to zoom. The pinch also works as a gesture for this same action.

Sliding two fingers: from page to page.

Move with three fingers: allows you to pick up and move any window as if it were pressed.

Swipe two fingers from the edge of the trackpad: It opens the notification centre. To close it is necessary to make the opposite gesture.

Not all the gestures will be activated. If you see any of the gesture is not working properly, you should check the configuration from the system preferences by searching for the trackpad. In addition, they can also be used on desktop computers with Apple Magic Trackpad.

These are the 21 touchpad tricks of both Windows and Mac laptop. I hope this article will help you to use your system with a touchpad like a pro. If you are facing any difficulties in applying any of the gesture, let us know in the comment section below. We will get back to you as soon as possible to solve all your queries. Would you like to add any other touchpad tricks to this article? Then write them in the below comment box and we will include them in this article.Out of Trackpad and mouse, which one do you use more?